Vikings, also called Northmen of Norse, were Scandinavians from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden who raided coastal towns in England, Scotland, Ireland, and France. After the death of King Louis the Pious, the attacks from Vikings intensified and overwhelmed the French region of the Holy Roman Empire. The Norsemen raided towns, burned churches and farms, and killed or enslaved hundreds of civilians. The French city of Tours was pillaged seven times, in 853, 856, 862, 872, 886, 903, and 919. Over a 40 year period, Paris was besieged four times, pillaged three times, and burned twice.
The Kings of France were too weak to provide protection to civilians, so this led to the development of feudalism. King Charles the Simple gave the Vikings Normandy, a part of Northern France, that they could rule. In the East, the Magyars terrorized the population of Germany, but posed less of a threat than the Vikings. The Magyars were eventually christianized and formed the nation of Hungary.
Peasants doing Labor in Exchange for Protection.
Feudalism is the exchange of free labor for protection and it took hold in Europe during the 9th century after the Viking, Magyar, and Muslim invasions. Civilians worked for dukes, earls, and kings in exchange for safety. A lord kept his own part of the realm and dispensed justice, collected taxes, maintained infrastructure, and protected the poor, orphans, and widows. Vassals were given large land grants to provide smaller land grants for peasants. They were also the protectors of the realm and chose knights as physical protectors of the people.
In the British Isles, the Anglo-Saxons became the most powerful tribe and subjugated most of England, which was made up of seven kingdoms: Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia. In the late 8th century, Viking invasions devastated the British Isles. Alfred the Great (ruled 871-899) was the king of Wessex and defeated the Vikings after building a navy and also helped translate classical Latin works into the Anglo-Saxon language. Some of the Danish Vikings stayed in England after the war, became Christianized, and married Anglo-Saxons.
William the Conqueror.
From the mid-900s to 980, England was relatively peaceful, until Vikings invaded again, and a Danish Norseman named Canute became England’s ruler. Norman-raised Saint Edward the Confessor ruled England from 1042 to 1066. After Edward’s death, Harold, the Earl of Wessex and William of Normandy both claimed the crown. William of Normandy invaded England and defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings, making him the new king. William, now known as William the Conqueror, gave large tracts of English land to French nobles from Normandy. William and his successors governed England as a part of France, but the Normans lost these holdings by 1204.
Catholic Painting of the Transfiguration of Jesus.
As Jesus continued his public ministry, the Pharisees got more and more scared of his influence. Jesus even started publicly condemning the Pharisees, proclaiming to “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees,” which meant to be wary of their faulty doctrine. The Jewish religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus and to use treason against Caesar as the reason. Jesus even predicted that this would soon happen and that after he would be resurrected.
One day, Jesus took his disciples James, John, and Peter to a mountain outside of Jerusalem. There he Transfigured Himself in front of them and the Prophets Moses and Elijah mystically appeared. Jesus stated that poverty for His sake will bring riches in the next life. The Temple, a Jewish place of worship, was being used as a marketplace for moneychangers, so Jesus overturned their tables and said to not make His Father’s house into a place of money.
After three years of public ministry, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem on a colt, as the people laid palm leaves at his feet. In Jerusalem, Jesus prophesied that the Temple would be razed, that there would be war, famine, drought, and suffering, and that some of the disciples would be alive to see this. All these things would come true, when the disciple John witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in AD 70.
Orthodox Icon of the Last Supper.
In his last days on earth, Jesus celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover with His disciples and had a meal with them. After the Last Supper, Judas Iscariot, handed over Jesus to the authorities for 30 pieces of silver. The Jews came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was preparing for His coming death. Peter tried to defend Jesus when he cut off the ear of one of the guards, but he was told by Jesus to lay down his sword.
After Jesus was arrested, most of the disciples fled and Peter even denied knowing Jesus three times. Judas tried to give the silver back to the chief priests, but when they refused, he hung himself in shame. The next morning, Jesus was questioned by the Roman Governor of Judea Pontious Pilate, who asked the people whether they wanted to free Jesus or Barabbas (a well-known murderer) and they chose Barabbas.
Jesus was crucified between two thieves. One of the criminals scolded Jesus and the other said to Jesus: “Remember me when you enter into Your Kingdom,” and Jesus replied, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Icon of the Crucifixion of Jesus.
After Jesus died, the sky became dark, the earth shook, the Veil of the Temple was torn in half, and the graves of the dead were opened. One of the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus saw this and repented. When Jesus gave up his earthly life, He completed the mission for which God the Father had sent him to earth: to give His life for the sins of man.
Muhammad (571-632) is the main prophet and the founder of the Islamic faith. Around 605, he had a mystical experience, which inspired him to start preaching monotheism to Arab tribes in Arabia. In his home city of Mecca, Mohammad found few willing to convert, so he traveled to neighboring Medina, where he found great success, and was welcomed as a political and religious leader. In 630, Muhammad led Medina into battle with Mecca, conquered the city, and forced the population to convert.
After Muhammad’s death in 632, Arabia united as a unified Islamic kingdom for the first in history and was ruled by a king called a caliph. Over the next 100 years, Islamic conquests spread their empire from India to Spain. Thousands of people were forcibly converted and Christians were martyred for refusal to deny their faith. The growth of Islam was slowed after the Muslims lost the Battle of Tours to the Kingdom of the Franks in 732.
“The Koran” is a book that Muhammad claimed was directed to him by the Angel Gabriel. The Islamic faith has five pillars: There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet; pray five times a day; fast during the month of Ramadan; give 2.5% percent of your wealth to the poor; and make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in your lifetime.
The Umayyad Caliphate before the Battle of Tours, 720.
After Muhammad’s death, there was a division among Muslims about who should lead the Islamic forces and Abu Bakr, a Sunni Muslim, was chosen to lead the empire. The Muslims set up many hospitals and made major advancements in medical knowledge. A large portion of Europe was occupied by the Muslims at some point; Greece for 500 years, Portugal for 600, Spain for 800, Sicily for 300, Serbia for 400, Romania for 400, Bulgaria for 500, and Hungary for 150.
Justinian (527-565) was one of the most influential Byzantine emperors, establishing law codes in 533 and 534. Previously, in 532, there was a significant uprising called the Nika Revolt in which John of Cappadocia started riots over food shortages. There were two groups of revolutionaries: the Greens and the Blues, and they both combined to fight against Justinian. These rebels persuaded a Senator named Hypatius to seize power causing Justinian to consider fleeing, but he decided to stay and eventually put down the rebellion.
Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.
Justinian wanted to unite the old Roman Empire under an Orthodox Christian emperor. Consequently, Byzantine General Belisarius took 10,000 infantry and 5,000 calvary to North Africa in 533, and defeated the Vandals. The Byzantines would control North Africa until the Mulsims conquered it in the late 7th century. Justinian then invaded Ostrogoth-controlled Italy in 534. After 20 years of fighting, the Byzantines finally controlled Italy.
The Lombards took advantage of the weakened Byzantines and invaded Italy in 554, taking most of Northern Italy in the process, but the Byzantines still controlled Rome. The Persians then attacked the Byzantine city of Antioch and sieged Thrace, while the first Bubonic Plague began to spread. In 601, the Byzantine Empire signed a 50 year peace deal with Persia.
In order to turn the empire to one single Orthodox faith, Justinian also started trying to convert the Monophysites, the Nestorians, and the Arians. Before his reign, the Monophysites and the Nestorians were condemned as heretics at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Three Nestorian writers penned a book called the “Three Chapters.” Although it did not contain any heretical doctrine, it was written by heretics, so the Byzantines condemned the work. However, since it was found free of heresy at the Council of Chalcedon, the Byzantines had to call their own council to condemn the authors, but not anathematize them. Moreover, Justinian tried to get the Monophysites to repent after this scandal, but they still refused.
In the East, the Church used many more icons than the west, which caused the power-seeking Byzantines emperors to claim that images should be outlawed, since they saw the images as competition. This belief is known as Iconoclasm, and it started when the Byzantine Emperor Leo III turned against the use of Icons in the early 8th century. By 731, Pope Gregory III excommunicated anyone who condemned the veneration of icons. In response, Leo III sent men to arrest the Pope and the Byzantines invaded the Papal States. By 753, there was widespread persecution of the faithful in the East. Not only was praying to the Saints outlawed, but all images were removed from churches. The emperors even forced monks to leave monasteries and stopped all monasteries from receiving new monks.
Byzantine Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.
In 843, Byzantine Empress Theodora finally removed all Iconoclast bishops and restored the empire to Orthodoxy. This is celebrated as a feast called “The Triumph of Orthodoxy.” Thankfully, Iconoclasm was officially condemned as a heresy at the Council of Constantinople in 843.
Charlemagne outlived all but one of his sons, King Louis the Pious, who became emperor, established many churches and monasteries, gave money to the poor, but lacked his father’s commanding personality. Louis the Pious eventually divided the Holy Roman Empire between his sons Pepin, Lothair, and Louis the German in 817. When Louis the Pious’s other son, Charles the Bald, tried to split the empire again, the other sons rebelled against him.
Louis the German humiliated his father in 830 by making him do penance in a monastery. Louis the Pious left the monastery and took power again, but after his death in 840 his sons continued fighting over the throne. In 843, the Holy Roman Empire was broken into three kingdoms: France, Germany, and Lotharingia. The title of Holy Roman Emperor was given to the King of Lotharingia, even though it was the weakest kingdom. In France, the coasts were devastated by Viking raids and in Germany the borders were invaded by Magyar tribes.
In Germany, the Carolingian line died out in 987 and the Ottonian kings took power. Unable to defend against Vikings, the French Kingdom fell, and the rest of the empire was divided into five duchies: Bavaria, Franconia, Lorraine, Saxony, and Swabia. Saxony became the strongest of the duchies, and by 919 the Duke of Saxony acted as ruler, but had trouble asserting dominance over Swabia and Bavaria.
Map of the Holy Roman Empire under the reign of Otto I in 962.
In 936, Otto I, Duke of Saxony, was announced as the official ruler of the empire. In 951 he invaded Lombard-controlled Italy. After defeating the Maygars in the East, his troops proclaimed him emperor. As a reward for helping the Pope defeat the Lombards, Otto I was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in 962, the first real emperor since Charlemagne.
